Finding Love Over Death
by ChibiGlowKitteh
Summary: "I h-hope you're happy…" Grell's voice was barely above a whisper. William glanced up, about to ask what was wrong before the redhead whipped around with what sounded like a choked sob, and tore from William's office, leaving William to stare after him in wonder of what had gotten the usually happy reaper so upset...


_Creak… _The door to William's office quietly swung open, the raven-haired man glancing up to see Grell Sutcliff heading up to his desk. Though not the happy, flirtatious, frolicking redhead that always stopped by whether he was there to fail at flirting or the rare handing in of completed paperwork... Instead he was completely silent, head hung with his long, bright red hair concealing his face and the hand that wasn't holding the thick cardstock folder was clenched at his side. He stopped and dropped the folder that held the collected soul's information inside with a shaking hand.

"I h-hope you're happy…" Grell's voice was barely above a whisper. William glanced up, about to ask what was wrong before the redhead whipped around with what sounded like a choked sob, and tore from William's office, leaving William to stare after him in wonder of what had gotten the usually happy reaper so upset.

"Probably another one of his 'emotional' days…" William muttered to himself, maneuvering his hand through the stacks of paperwork to reach the folder and dragging it to himself to see if the red reaper had actually filled anything in. Though his eyes widened when he realized what was inside:

A six week old baby had passed away of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome that morning, and Grell was the one to collect the soul. William glanced at the list of souls he had assigned different reapers to, realizing he had accidentally assigned Grell the little boy, even after knowing how distraught and upset it got the redhead.

"How could I have been so careless…?" As annoying as Grell was, William still was unsure why he didn't pay closer attention… and why he cared so much. This was probably one of the worst scenarios he could put his subordinate in. It didn't feel right to just leave the red reaper to be upset without William doing anything. With that thought he stood up, pulling the office keys from their spot on one of the rungs of his coat rack and heading to the familiar door of Grell's office with the fancy, swirling script of _'Grell Sutcliff' _on the door where Grell had written it in red lipstick below the office number. Trying the door handle and discovering it locked, he inserted the key and fiddled with the finicky lock Grell's office always had until the door swung open.

"S- Grell?" William called when he didn't see the shinigami, figuring it was better to use his subordinate's first name in this situation. He stepped in the deep crimson painted office, locking the door behind him again to avoid any attention drawn to interaction between the two. Though he didn't know why, he felt his heart twist slightly when he fully saw Grell hugging his knees to his chest, curled up on the black leather couch every reaper's office held, his entire body trembling in silent sobs as tears travelled down his cheeks, dripping to the black leather below him.

"Please just leave me alone, Will," Grell's voice was slightly hoarse as he took a shaky breath, still curled up and avoiding looking at William.

"Grell, I apologize for-"  
"Then why did you send me on that reaping mission!?" Grell asked with his words choked and turned as William hesitantly sat down beside him, the leather squeaking under his weight. He never liked it when the redhead was upset, sure, even though Grell could be annoying as hell; the red reaper struck a certain spot in William's heart, allowing him to always find himself thinking Grell always so happy, and if anything rather cute… even beautiful. Though the raven-haired reaper had always banished the thoughts, ignoring them and allowing himself to fall under the category of loathing Grell instead of revealing his true feelings, and he had a strange feeling that something could happen today.

"I wasn't paying attention to who I assigned what souls to, you just happened to be next on the list," William explained to the still-sobbing reaper, reaching out to touch Grell's shoulder, who then surprised him by shifting himself around and grabbing William in a hug, crying softly into the older reaper's shoulder.

"He was so little and innocent…"

"I know, Grell, I know," William reached up and ran a hand through the flaming red hair, trying to soothe the heart-broken reaper as best he could. Grell then suddenly looked up from his position of clinging to William,

"Will… why are you suddenly treating me like this?" Grell asked,

"Because I hate to see you so upset like this. Though you can be the most annoying, overdramatic, whiny reaper-"

"And you can be the meanest, most cold-hearted boss," Grell muttered dully, William's eyebrow twitched slightly as he decided to continue on,

"I still do worry when you're like this," Grell then pulled back with a slight smile, though his eyes didn't hold much of their usual shine.

"I knew there was something for me in here," He placed his hand against William's chest, signalling his heart. A small blush tainted William's cheeks before annoyance set in,

"Do no touch your boss in such a manner," He snapped, the sudden cold anger he always held returning, as he roughly slapped Grell's hand away, though instantly regretting it when he saw the hurt look on Grell's face. Grell turned, slipping off the couch and starting across his office towards the matching black desk to the couch,

"Grell-" William stood up, starting after his subordinate,

"Just go, Will!" Grell hoped his voice would not betray his mask of the tears he was hiding, from everything that had happened that day… He was suddenly yanked backwards when a hand closed on his collar and he fell back onto the couch behind him. His eyes snapped to William with a rather nervous, questioning gaze.

"You didn't let me finish…" Grell furrowed his brows in a rather cute manner at William's comment,

"Go on…"  
"I meant to apologize for sending you on that reaping mission earlier; I was busy and didn't realize you were the one I sent to collect the baby's soul. And I'm sorry to make you so upset,"

"Very well, I'm ok now…" Grell lied, just wanting to get William out of his office so he could have some alone time, but William wasn't finished,

"And to tell you something I should have a long time ago," That caught Grell's attention as he turned to the older reaper beside him, his beautiful emerald eyes wide and curious, "I can't count how many times you've claimed you're heart to mine, and every time, I've denied… Though I've figured out after finally thinking, it's time for me to take up your offer…" Instantly the redhead's dull, teary eyes lit up with the usually sparkle William loved to see as Grell leapt forward, clinging himself to William once again.

"I knew you'd give in sometime~…" Grell grinned, nestling himself close to William, his shark-toothed grin stretching wider as the raven-haired man's arms wrapped around him and pulled the little reaper into his lap, perfecting the snuggling position for Grell,

"I couldn't think of any better time than now…"  
"Ready to give your heart away so suddenly to someone like me, trying an adventure?" Grell teased,

"Lead the way," William gave a smile, "And the length of this 'adventure'?" Grell leaned upwards, sealing his lips with William's,

"Only for eternity…"

* * *

**... that was sappy…**

**OOC William was OOC… I seem to have trouble keeping William in character, so I apologize for that DX All my story characters are happy-go-lucky, fun characters much like Grell, and William is a bit of a nuisance to keep in character since I'm not used to writing characters like him…**

**But I hoped everyone liked it, be expecting more Grelliam soon~!**


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